Summer 2005

Education for sustainability

A sense of place for all

An intergenerational Indigenous learning centre is a unique environment. Here Jo Dutton reveals how the Sustainable Schools Initiative provided the catalyst for focused activities that have headed the centre in some new directions.

Irrkerlantye Learning Centre is a unique intergenerational learning centre for Arrernte families. The centre involves whole families in a range of learning opportunities, from CDEP (Community Development Employment Projects) and Art programs to primary education. There is a crèche for the younger children so that mothers and aunts can create art and so that dads and uncles can engage in work programs. The centre was initially developed in response to community needs to secure appropriate schooling for children and through a process of community development has evolved over the last nine years into the solid community organisation that it is today.

The centre is based in the old Santa Theresa flats and has a consecrated church within the buildings. As the site was not purpose-built, there has never been any clear planning of the environment and different projects impact on the environment in an ad-hoc way. The Sustainable Schools Initiative gave the centre a structure for sustainable environmental planning.

The Sustainable Schools Initiative offered this unique Indigenous centre an opportunity to evaluate its own contribution to a sustainable environment. Arrernte people are keen to embrace sustainable technologies and practices that better serve their traditional country.

The community was involved in the writing of a Schools Environment Management Plan (SEMP) that tackled energy, water, grounds and resource needs. This plan has particular goals that will guide programming for 2005 and 2006.

An energy audit was undertaken and an education program put in place to work towards behavioural change in those areas where it was most needed. Inappropriate use of air-conditioners and water wastage are two key areas where behavioural change has been targeted. Staff members are encouraged to use timers on air-conditioners and to learn how to over-ride them when needed. When funding is found, spring-loaded taps will be installed to assist in the reduction of water wastage.

One of the first priorities of Irrkerlantye’s SEMP was the establishment of a xeroscape garden involving everybody from crèche children to adults. (Xeroscape gardens feature plants which are native to a region and require minimal watering.) Wood and bricks were recycled from the Bower Bird Tip Shop. This garden, which features walls of ceramic tiles made by the children in an earlier art project, has begun to flourish and with some simple seating is a sustainable source of green respite from the rest of the bare grounds.

With a Northern Territory Environment grant, the centre is in the beginning stages of making a food forest garden. It is envisaged that the garden will be built with the help of the men as part of a training program in landscaping and that the food from the garden will be shared with the Indigenous families of the centre.

As part of celebrations for the Alice Springs Desert Festival, the children were involved in making a float for the main parade. Built from light bamboo and decorated brightly, the float will become a three metre high trellis for vegetables in the food forest garden. A strawberry patch will also be created, providing summer fruit for the community.

At Irrkerlantye food is an important part of the whole centre program and the kitchen provides nutritious meals for everyone. Wastage has been reduced in this area by providing collection points for compost and chicken food. In the offices there are collection points for recycling paper.

Weekly teaching and learning sessions for sustainability provide everyone with a focus and range of activities for and about the environment. The sessions that involve trips beyond the centre are the most popular and accessible for the whole community. On these trips that nurture cultural and environmental health, many of the adults in the centre take leading roles. It is the expertise of these adults that provides a rich understanding of our desert environment and the cultural practices in place to maintain it.

The Sustainable Schools Initiative has given Irrkerlantye a framework for realistic and achievable goals to improve the sustainability of our environment. It provides an impetus for a range of projects that benefit our immediate environment and the wider community of which we are all a part.

Jo Dutton has worked as a teacher at Irrkerlantye Learning Centre for four years.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au